Peter Thiel is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager, that is widely known as an outspoken libertarian. Contradictorily, when interviewed, Thiel speaks calmly by carefully, to carefully think about what he will say. Thiel cofounded PayPal, and was Facebook’s first outside investor, which transformed him into a billionaire when the company went public. Peter also helped launch Palantir Technologies, an analytical software company, and serves as the chairman of that company’s board.
Considered to be an interesting thinker, his understandings and interpretations of our world, even though controversial at times, are thought provoking. Peter Thiel is involved with series of philanthropic, academic, and cultural pursuits. He serves as a primary supporter of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a group that promotes press freedom worldwide; the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, which seeks to foster the responsible development of advanced computing technologies; and the SENS Foundation, a medical charity dedicated to extending healthy human lifespans.
Intelligenthq assembles here 7 quotes by Peter Thiel specifically chosen for entrepreneurs aiming to innovate. How to create a new startup that is truly innovative ? We live in the midst of huge amounts of data, as due to the latest technological advancements, humans have accumulated more data in these last two three years, then in 500 years of civilization. How to navigate such a gigantic and messy notebook which is the one of the information age, the age we are leaving nowadays ? What tools could we use to map all that data and transform it into valuable assets ?
1. “There are still many large white spaces on the map of human knowledge. You can go discover them. So do it. Get out there and fill in the blank spaces. Every single moment is a possibility to go to these new places and explore them.” Peter Thiel
2. “Competition is overrated. In practice it is quite destructive and should be avoided wherever possible. Much better than fighting for scraps in existing markets is to create and own new ones. “ Peter Thiel
3. “There are many more secrets in the world that are waiting to be found. The question of how many secrets exist in our world is roughly equivalent to how many startups people should start.” Peter Thiel
4. “Most people are average. Founders are not. Founders’ traits seem to have an inverse normal distribution to them. “ Peter Thiel
5. “There is perhaps no specific time that is necessarily right to start your company or start your life. But some times and some moments seem more auspicious than others. Now is such a moment. If we don’t take charge and usher in the future—if you don’t take charge of your life—there is the sense that no one else will.” Peter Thiel
6. “As an investor-entrepreneur, I’ve always tried to be contrarian, to go against the crowd, to identify opportunities in places where people are not looking”. Peter Thiel
7. “I think in my twenties I tended to think of all people as sort of more or less alike. In now think that people are really different in all these subtle ways that are very important.” Peter Thiel
Maria Fonseca is the Editor and Infographic Artist for IntelligentHQ. She is also a thought leader writing about social innovation, sharing economy, social business, and the commons. Aside her work for IntelligentHQ, Maria Fonseca is a visual artist and filmmaker that has exhibited widely in international events such as Manifesta 5, Sao Paulo Biennial, Photo Espana, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Joshibi University and many others. She concluded her PhD on essayistic filmmaking , taken at University of Westminster in London and is preparing her post doc that will explore the links between creativity and the sharing economy.
